President Obama answers a question during a news conference at the White House Nov. 14. / Jacquelyn Martin, AP

by Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY

by Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY

President Obama is taking to the road today to press his case for adopting his plan to avert the "fiscal cliff."

Obama will visit the Rodon Group, a company in the Philadelphia suburbs called K'Nex Brands, a construction toy company whose products include Tinkertoy and Angry Birds Building Sets.

The trip comes one day after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner met with congressional leaders and presented a plan that included $1.6 trillion in higher taxes over the next decade, while maintaining the George W. Bush-era tax cuts for the middle class. That offer was rejected by the Republican leadership, which opposes hiking taxes for any Americans.

Republicans have cast the trip as a campaign-style ploy, and the Republican National Committee grumbled in a memo this morning that the "election is over."

During his trip to the toy manufacturing facility in Hatfield, Pa., look for Obama to showcase the company as one that would be hurt if Republicans don't go along with his plan that calls for taxes to increase for the wealthiest Americans, while maintaining the Bush-era rates for American households making less than $250,000.

Obama chose a toy manufacturer less than four weeks before Christmas Day as his backdrop to argue that Congress should immediately agree to extending tax rates for middle-class Americans. If there isn't clarity on the matter, the White House suggests, Americans might close their wallets in the midst of the holiday season.

"As we move into the holiday season, Democrats and Republicans should come together to renew middle-class tax cuts, so families have more certainty at this critical time for our economy," the White House said in an e-mail to reporters. " If we act quickly, we can prevent a hit to consumer spending, which is roughly 70% of the U.S. economy. That's good for middle-class families, and it's important for businesses like the Rodon Group."